EVANS, Ga. — The Rose Zhang Show broke out early at Champions Retreat and picked up steam as the World No. 1 put together another record day at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The Stanford sophomore broke her own course record with a second-round 65 and now leads Andrea Lignell by five strokes heading into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.
Zhang’s 13-under 131 total also set a record.
While it almost feels like all that’s left is a celebration of Zhang, there were plenty of other highlights on a day when red numbers peppered the board for one of the most pressure-packed days in golf. A total of 31 players made the cut. Every player in the field, however, will tee it up on Friday for a practice round at Augusta National.
Here are five things to know beyond the Zhang headlines from Day 2 at ANWA:
Youth movement
Gianna Clemente, the youngest player in the field, shot 32 on her back nine at Champions Retreat to vault into a share of ninth. Clemente made headlines last year when she Monday-qualified for three consecutive events. She turned 15 last week and is making her debut in the ANWA.
“I dropped a probably a 50-footer on No. 2 and after that just kept going,” said Clemente. “Definitely didn’t expect to shoot 32 on the back, but we had some good pin positions, and I aimed at every pin and it worked.”
Clemente putted for 90 minutes Wednesday evening after a frustrating day on the greens. Her father and caddie, Patrick, said they were under-reading the greens a bit that first day at Champions. They adjusted her set-up position, moving farther away, and got things rolling Thursday.
Clemente, who works with IMG for NIL representation, recently signed with Amundi and is supported by Nike and Titleist.
Third time’s the charm
The only goal on Megha Ganne’s mind this year was to play Saturday at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The Stanford freshman, a four-time Drive, Chip and Putt national finalist, missed the cut in her two previous ANWA appearances. Ganne shot 70 on Thursday and is T-9 heading into the final round.
How hard was it to come up short in the past?
“It was bad,” said Ganne. “More tears than I’ve shed for any other event. It’s just crazy competitive. You want it really badly.”
Kentucky clutch
Jensen Castle knew exactly where she stood when she faced an 8-foot slider for birdie on the 18th to make the cut on the number at 2 over. Her second-round 76 included a pair of double-bogeys.
“I was like, not ideal,” said Castle of her must-make putt. “It’s straight down grain and I putted it about 4 feet and knew it was in immediately.”
The 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and Kentucky senior recently tweaked a rib injury that first started bothering her two summers ago. The flareup kept her from competing for Kentucky at Clemson’s event last week. Castle joked that the trainers at the ANWA will be her best friends by the end of the week.
“I got some heat and massage,” she said of her treatment after the first round. “When say massage, it wasn’t a feel-good massage. They went in there and broke up the tissue, but it was good.”
The good voice
After Emilia Migliaccio double-bogeyed her 12th hole of the day, one side of her brain asked, “Did you just screw this up?” While the other side noted that she had a short club on her approach shots the rest of the way.
The angel voice prevailed, as the fifth-year player at Wake Forest birdied the last three holes – her only birdies of the day – to claw back inside the cut line at 1 over.
Migliaccio, who has her fiancé on the bag this year, is one of three players who have competed in all four editions of the ANWA. She finished runner-up in 2021 with her mom on the bag and missed the cut in 2019 and 2022.
“I just told myself, I said, ‘Emilia, you can definitely make two birdies in these last couple holes,’ ” she said.
“Thankfully, it worked.”
Coming up short
Defending champion Anna Davis missed the cut after suffering a four-stroke penalty in the opening round for twice picking up her ball in the rough on the first hole. Davis shot 72 in the second round and missed the cut by two strokes.
LSU’s Ingrid Linblad finished in the top three in her previous two ANWA appearances but struggled mightily this time around. The Swede was emotional after carding rounds of 78-74. She came into the week hot after notching her 11th college victory.
